A Second Big Bang and Dispersant

GERALD HERBERT/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Another explosion. What initially sounded like deja vu from last April appears to be a minor event. Thankfully, the dozen workers on the rig escaped safely and reports now state there is no oil leaking. Time will tell if the last part is true.

At almost the same time, reports surfaced that evidence of dispersant were discovered in relatively large quantities near Horn Island off the Mississippi coast. This is odd since BP stopped using dispersant  on July 19, and according to a representative of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) the dispersant has a half life of seventeen days. (Statement made at about 2:00 into this video.)



Something seems amiss. If it's been nearly one and a half months since dispersant was applied in the Gulf, and the half life data is correct, there should be less than 25% of it remaining. So why is it showing up many miles from the blown rig sight in these concentrations? Why also did it show up over in Alabama in late-August?

This story on al.com, posted August 31, reports of dispersant discovered elsewhere in the Gulf and quotes attorney Stuart Smith, who represents the Louisiana-based United Commercial Fisherman’s Association and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network who said that he saw C-130s spraying dispersant near the shore of the Florida Panhandle.

Smith clearly has a dog in this fight and one might rightly be skeptical of his report, but his is not the only one. I have heard several reports from Gulf fishermen that they've seen the same thing in Mississippi. Evidence suggests that the whole story of dispersant use is not being made public.

Another brick in the wall is this video with representatives of Orange Beach, AL who discuss dispersant levels in Cotton Bayou.


On a personal note, the vast majority of people I've spoken with recently believe that they are getting lied to about the oil spill. When I ask who's doing the lying, they say BP and the government. Since they control most of the direct information about the spill, one should not be surprised to see more stories like this in the future.